In 1996, the Posies played the Holland Lowlands Festival, which is held on a man made island in the center of Holland. It’s a pretty big one, and it was our second visit to the mainstage, the first being our very first show in Europe, in 1993. Three years later the festival was even bigger, and our placement, right before Bjork and Sonic Youth, was much more auspicious. We played a great show, and hung out and enjoyed the headliners. I had seen Bjork a coupla times before, and each time she had pretty much been doing very wacky karaoke to her hi tech backing tracks. She’s a great singer, great artist, but at the end of the day, it’s performing to playback and that just limits the dynamics of a show too much for me. But this time, she had a band, mixing in programmed stuff with live players, and it was much better. The focal point of the band was this incredibly slammin’ drummer. He looked older to my eyes, kinda scruffy grey sorta-dreads. Man he was beating the hell outta of the drums, and giving a wonderful swing to the cold techno beats and bass lines.
Well, I didn’t know it, but the fella greeting us at El Cortijo studios when JB Meijers and I pulled up was that very drummer, Trevor Morais. Trevor’s CV is immense, and he’s been able to adapt to different generations’ musical styles, and thus at some 65 years is youthful, hip and ready for action. He cut his teeth in the Liverpool beat scene, at the same time as the Beatles; continued to play rock, R&B and jazz into the 70s. In the late 70s he started a rehearsal complex outside of London on the grounds of a farm, and when bands remarked how they like the barn’s acoustics he created a recording studio and soon had clients like Genesis and other heavy hitters recording there. Meanwhile, he started the experimental project Penguin Cafe Orchestra, and even played drums on Tina Turner’s bajillion-selling Private Dancer album. His R&B and jazz expertise led him to hooking up with an young R&B band in the UK whose interest in electronic music caused them to transform into dance icons Underworld. Trevor played live and on their records with them, and this in turn surely brought him to Bjork’s attention, and we was a part of several of her records and tours, like the one we saw in 1996. In the meantime, he bought some property in Spain, near Marbella, and built a magnificent house with a studio at its heart. He lives there, but it’s a residential studio with a dramatic cliff view, looking over a valley with a reservoir at the bottom, and nothing but swooping hills covered with trees as far as you can see, except for a few of the heights of Marbella are between you and the sea, so you see a bit of the town looking south. But looking north and east it’s almost uninhabited, and there’s even a snow-crusted peak in the distance. Eagles swoop by day, frogs go at car-alarm level at night, lizards scurry about. We were there for a night and a day and a night. We worked on some songs for JB’s album. Now, JB is no slouch himself, being perhaps the most successful producer/guitarist/songwriter in Holland, being part of literally millions of sales there, impressive in a country with less than 20 million inhabitants. He’s adept in the rock and electronic worlds, and now in his late thirties is getting around to making his own album for the first time, in English and full of great pop songs with big parts--epic things you might hear on a Queen record, but his stuff isn’t pretentious, it’s more down to earth, but in a Beatles kind of way...I played bass, piano, and sang various backing vocals. Sometimes I sang parts that he had mapped out, to give the choir more tonal variety; sometimes he just let me make stuff up (there are some SUPER weird parts that came out of this). A lot of the time we listened to Trevor’s stories, which after over 40 years playing music and running studios...well, we spent hours doing so and barely scratched the surface. It was so lovely there I didn’t want to sleep, I just wanted to absorb the incredible views and the wonderful, no-hurry vibe. But we did get quite a few parts on quite a few songs done, and JB seemed quite happy.
MALAGA, 4/28
The next day, we cabbed in to Malaga, about 40 minutes’ drive, and checked in to the hotel. JB was going to hang for the Big Star show, and in fact I ended up recruiting him to guitar tech (he was a real fan and Alex really liked him, so this was a great solution). I checked in with my bandmates, and we assembled at the Teatro Cervantes, which is a stunning little opera house that holds the occasional rock show. We ran thru ‘Kizza Me’, which was a song we’d never done before, that Alex had expressed interest in doing to spice up the set with some fresh blood, but when we actually played Alex wasn’t that into it. ‘You Can’t Have Me’ had been suggested to, but that was scrapped without even trying it. We did work up ‘Do You Wanna Make It’ from ‘In Space’ so there was a never-before-played tune for the show that night.
Now, I am all for playing opera houses, but it’s true that a seated show, with bright lights in your face, and an empty orchestra pit between you and the public, is not exactly what a rock show is all about for me. So, the prestige of playing this beautiful building was perhaps paid for by being a kind of detached show...however, I was on fire. I have been playing a lot of stuff on a lot of records these months, and I new JB was in the wings and he’s a great bass player, so I wanted to nail it, and in fact i did. There were a few catastrophic failures, notably confusion as to when to get out of the guitar solo in ‘Slut’ and Jody completely forgetting to do the fill in ‘September Gurls’ but with Big Star, you pay to see us make mistakes--we do the perfect stuff for free. So, all in all, I loved this show. No merch to sell, no guests backstage, ah, paradise. Our after show party was Jody, Jon, JB and one guy (me) whose name doesn’t start with ‘J’ drinking champagne in my room.
GRANADA, 4/29
Dani (my recording buddy from the previous week) and Migue, who put together my Andalusian solo shows last summer, met Jon & I at the hotel, and we took a little lunch in the sun and then drove to Granada. Now, the Posies at this point have played shows in Spain in 2005 (including a massive one in Granada), 2006, 2007 and 2008. And remember, in between those tours, I’ve been there as a solo artist, and with the Disciplines, and...in fact check this out: Posies 93; Posies/White Flag ’95; Posies ’96; Lagwagon ’97; Chariot/solo/Posies/REM ’98; REM/Saltine ’99; Posies ’00; Posies/solo/Big Star/REM ’01; White Flag/solo/REM ’03; solo ’04; REM/Posies ’05; Posies/solo/Big Star ’06; Posies/solo ’07; Posies/solo/Disciplines ’08; And now, Posies/Disciplines/Big Star ’09. I mean, how many opportunities can one country give? Evidently, endless ones. Cuz, once again, we walked into the club after dinner (which were killer tapas, eaten outside from communal plates--everybody digs in with their fork, which I thought was quite thrilling, doing so during a flu pandemic) and found the place jammed. Jammed! It was the Planta Baja, where White Flag & I played in 2003. So, about 100 people chainsmoking and going absolutely nuts. I mean, we played ‘You Avoid Parties’ and dudes were screaming like it was 1964. Yes, dudes. It was out of control. Jon & I hadn’t played together since the Posies last tour of Spain six months, and with all I have going on I hadn’t really thought about these songs...and our soundcheck was short, and in fact, we fell right into place. I only botched one line, in ‘I Guess You’re Right’. But other than that, it was like plugging into a really strong network, on a virus-free computer performing at top speed. Other than inhaling everyone’s smoke (which did make me cough on one line) the show was absolutely effortless. After the show, we went to a nearby bar for a couple of drinks (I was treated to my first and second ‘tinto de verano’, a sugar and lemon-enhanced red wine drink served over ice. Delicious. In the 40 minutes we spent at the bar, the DJ played my perfect mix--90% KS solo/Posies/Chariot etc. with the occasional Byrds or other harmony-laden nugget.
JEREZ, 4/30
We were in no hurry to leave the next day, which was good was for some reason traffic in Granada was completely gridlocked. Seems everyone was running around getting their shopping done before the long, May Day weekend. After some hours, we pulled up to Paco Loco’s studio, so Jon could have a tour of the place and meet Paco and Muni. Then we wound our way into Jerez, and checked in to our hotel, which of course was awesome--forshadowing our hellish departure the next morning (the rule of tour being: the nicer the hotel, the shorter the stay. You’ll always have your day off in some moldy, windowless piece of shit right in the middle of cracktown). This was a little oasis with a beautiful garden, and a gourmet restaurant to boot (we were able, at least, to have dinner there). We had to do a TV interview on the local channel, which was hilarious of course. And then back to the hotel for our meal, during which the van got towed, with all our guitars and what not inside. Hmmm. I adopted my ‘he who park in tow zone go it all alone’ attitude. Saying that the driver is always responsible for tickets and such. They were cool with that, and somehow the show managed to cough up another €200 to get the car back with no consequences on our pocketbook. Again, the show was packed. Sound was a little jury-rigged (like the PA speakers stacked on each other and held in place by pieces of string, for example). But aside from some people in front being blasted when I hit high notes, this show was just dandy. We were even more relaxed and played even better, with lots of guitar free jazz bits that resolved perfectly. This combo of Jon & I, when we are mentally fit and not burned out, have this ability to get in and stay in ‘the zone’, very consistently. Weird, wonderful things happen where even the mistakes make little magical moments. Hard to explain. But it’s a feeling of flying, in a way. Our voices combine into kind of one voice; the raggedy style of my guitar and the precision of Jon’s compliment each other perfectly. And the crowd in Spain knows and loves these songs. So, that pushes us up to new heights. We had 2/3 of our favorite trio of German fans (two members of the trio are twins, one of whom had recently become a mom so she couldn’t come--but it was their birthday) who received some of their requests...including the show closer, ‘O-o-h Child’ which was actually epic. My voice was just ON. It’s been working a lot, and this has made it extremely powerful, it’s a muscle that has received a lot of exercise lately.
After the show our dressing room suddenly turned into an insane coke den, so we got the hell out of there, and went to the hotel to sleep for 3 and half magnificent hours.
VALLADOLID, 5/1
Well, this show was a lot of effort for...perhaps my least favorite of the 5 shows (well, we’ll see how tonite stacks up). We were up at 6.30, on the road at 7.30 for an hour drive to Seville, where we caught a bus for an 8.5-hour journey north to Valladolid. This was made doable by the fact it was warm, comfortable and I could sleep virtually the entire way. When we arrived, Muy Fellini, our support act for the next three shows, was there to meet us. We went to the club, which was in a strange little neighborhood outside the center of town, but was actually a very cool and pleasant little grotto of a place. The promoter was losing money on this one, to be sure. I think V-lid is a hard town to get people out. Our show wasn’t empty, but attendance was far from spectacular. So, in his panic, the guy was kind of weird--I had offered to put these two kids on the guest list and the promoter refused! This kind of thing. Well, we played OK, but the vibe was not that cool.
BILBAO, 5/2
Now this town is all about the good vibe. Bilbao was at its best this visit: the sun was out, people in general were in a good mood. We had plenty of chill time so Jon & I bee-lined to
Cafe Iruna (blogger doesn't let me use tildes, FYI), picking up right where we left off in October--drinking fino, eating pinchos and brochettes, and soaking up the lively atmosphere. The place is serving drinks and snacks at a phenomenal rate, but you can’t call this fast food. The quality of the ingredients and their preparation are very high...and yet, everything seems to cost about a Euro. It’s great to see tourists, old Spanish folks, young hipsters, and....40-something rocker dudes enjoying the atmosphere. The place simply is a temple of pleasure. The priests, in black and white, are friendly but very serious about their rites. Well, we had a show to do.
I think this show was my favorite so far, beating out even Granada even tho the place was less crowded and the crowd that was there was incredibly mellow. But the sound was so excellent (our FOH this night was this fella who really reminded me of Khan in the Star Trek movie) on stage that I was just soaring...it was a feeling that I would call remarkable, except that with the acoustic version of the Posies, it seems to happen night after night. Even with the weird vibe in the previous night’s show, we had some soaring moments...but this show was comprised of ONLY those moments.
I can’t say it was the healthiest decision, but it sure was a satisfying one--as soon as the show was done we were back at Cafe Iruña. I thought I was going to be strong, but as soon as those little pieces of bread with anchovies and roasted peppers or gooey bacon fat-slathered jamon were available, I went nuts and Jon followed suit. Elvers, goat cheese, all kinds of fantastic combinations were brought out. We were chugging fino and eating pies and all kinds of stuff. Old folks were dancing to flamenco pop in the salon, the place was buzzing and we closed it down. Somehow the bill for four people came to like 80 Euros, which is basically impossible to do without SERIOUSLY pigging out.
No need to say, when I woke up this morning, all those different species were battling for some kind of Darwinian pecking order to be digested, so I needed to sleep it off. Skipping breakfast, and checking out late. However, we went back for lunch today! Our waiter at dinner and after show was VERY happy to see two customers with appetites like ours, and he even invited us for a final round of fino. A meal like that...makes you feel like you can conquer the world, and it’s with this feeling that we got in the Jumpy and rode the one hour drive to Logrono.
I’ve been in the hotel watching Djokovic and Nadal duke it out in Italy, and our last show of this run awaits us tonite.
Love
KS
Logrono, SPAIN
